Sharief's mortal remains laid to rest

The mortal remains of veteran Congress leader and former Union minister C K Jaffer Sharief were on Monday laid to rest with full state honours at the Khuddussab burial ground here.

Sharief, 85, died at a private hospital here Sunday following a cardiac arrest.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, along with Karnataka in-charge of party affairs K C Venugopal, paid their last respects at the burial ground.

"The burial ceremony started at 2.30 pm and culminated at 3 pm," Riazuddin, who was working with Sharief as his personal assistant said, adding that the body was buried with full state honours.

Other leaders who paid their respects were Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara.

Before the body was brought to the burial ground, it was kept at the Masjid-E-Qhadria for prayers and at the office of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee for people to pay their last respects.

The body was received by KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao in the presence of Azad and other Congress leaders.

Sharief, a seven-time Lok Sabha member, was a staunch loyalist of Indira Gandhi.

He had served as the railway minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government between 1991 and 1995.